Writing a complete history of libraries is no easy task. One must address questions of definition, purpose, accessibility, and function. Not only are there no single answers to these questions, but ...

Countless histories can be found on library shelves, including histories of libraries themselves. Reading library history can help us not only avoid repeating history but also better understand how ...

Most of us think about Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat or Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington when we think about the civil rights movement. Lesser known is the issue of library ...

The Library: A Fragile History is ambitious in its scope and detail-oriented in its execution. The book traces the entire history of libraries, inclusive of private, state, public and academic ...

Widespread screening events are expanding the audience for “Free for All: The Public Library,” an Independent Lens documentary that explores the crucial role of American libraries throughout history ...

This month, after we celebrated the independence of our nation, seems like a perfect opportunity to brush up on a little American history as it relates to the rise of public libraries. Where did the ...

ODDFELLOWSHIP: The West Paris library’s director, Brenda Lynn Gould, trained as an electrical engineer, and has experience as an herbalist and shepherd on her resume. Here, she leafs through an album ...

My mother’s parents emigrated in 1949 from southwest Ireland to Boston, where I grew up seeing them every day. The first stories I ever heard were my grandfather’s retellings of Irish myths. As I grew ...